Swimming-garment



S. R. SMITH.

SWIMMING GARMENT.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 6, 1919 RENEWED SEPT} 15. 1920.

1,365,067, I Patented Jan. 11, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAM B. SMITH, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

SWIMMING-GARMENT.

Application filed May 6, 1919, Serial No. 296,618. Renewed September 15, 1920. Serial No. 410,481.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAM B. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Swimming- Garments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to swimming garments and more particularly to a form of belt adapted to be worn by a swimmer, whereby the body of the wearer may be rendered buoyant while in the water and maintained in any desired position. Reference is had in this application to my for mer patent for swimming garments, No. 1,282,309,'datedOctober 22, 1918. V

The main obj ect of the present invention is to provide a belt of suitablematerial which may be comfortably worn by a swimmer while in the water and having a buoyancy sufficient to support a maximum weight in floating position and. capable of adjustment to accommodate persons of different size without substituting one garment for another.

Another object is to provide in a device of the character stated, a belt of fabric or the like adapted to be worn around the portion of the body between the waist line and the chest and provided with a plurality of floats at the front and back, an equal number of said floats beingprovided at front and back in order to afford a perfect balance in the water. r

A further object is to provide means for fastening the belt on the body of a swimmer oflarge'size and independent means whereby the same belt may be easily adjusted and accommodated to a personof smaller size, said latter means comprising aplurality of elements removably held in folds or seams of the belt at each side of the front and a tape or cord for attachment thereto.

A. still further object is to provide a plurality of vertically formed pockets on the front and back of the belt proper, open at their upper ends, and adapted to removably hold hermetically sealed floats, together with means for closing the tops of said pockets for holding the floats therein. Other objects may appear as the description progresses.

In the drawings forming a part of this application and annexed thereto, I have shown one practical embodiment of my invention including certain novel details of structure and arrangement of parts, whichI will describe in detail in this specification. Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of my im proved swimming belt, open at the front for the purpose of illustrating the featuresand details thereof.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional plan of the same showing details of structure an'd the manner of attaching the ends of the belt together.

Similar characters of reference are employed in the specification and throughout the views of the drawing for indicating the same or like parts. i

This invention comprises a single piece belt B, of fabric or the like, of substantial width, and adapted to be worn above the waist line of the body and to extend upwardly to a convenient point about or below the chest, for providing the greatest comfort to the wearer. The belt may be of one or two ply material,- as desired and should be hemmed and stitched around the upper and lower edges, as shown. The opposite ends 1, 1, of said belt have loops, or hems, 2, 2, formed thereon, each end comprising a pair of spaced and alined loops, and one of the loops of each pair being open atthe top or bottom, in order that rods 3, 3, of wood or metal may be inserted in one of the loops and extended through both loops of each pair, as indicated in Fig.1. A cord l may be thus inserted between the rods 3, 3, and the ends, 1, 1, of the belt and the ends thereof tied together as shown in Fig; 2, for the purpose of fastening the belt around the body of a person of large, or normal size.

A pair of vertically disposed, and substantially enlarged pockets 5, 5, are provided for attachment to the front end portions 1,1, at the front ofthe garment, the rearsides of the pockets being stitched to the belt B at one or more points so as to hold them firmly in positionthereon. The said pockets have bottoms formed therein and the tops are open so as to receive floats F, which are hermetically sealed and are preferably of metal and serve to provide bouyancy to the belt. After the floats are placed in the pockets 5, 5, the upper ends of said pockets may be drawn together and tied by means of cords 6, 6, so that the floats may be removed when it may be necessary to clean, alter or repair the belt, or for other purposes.

Midway between the ends 1, 1, of the belt B, I provide a second pair of the floats F, held in pockets 7, 7, attached to the outside of the belt B, in a manner similar to that employed in connection with the front float pockets 5, 5, and when the belt is in position for use on a person, the floats 5, 5, will be in the front of the body and the floats 7, 7, in the back, as shown.

A plurality of loops, or seams, 8, 8, etc., are provided at regular intervals on each side of the floats F, F, at the front of the belt, and said loops, like those, 2, 2, on the ends 1, 1, are arranged in pairs in vertical alinement and spaced apart at the center, so that rods, 9, 9, may be inserted and held in certain of the loops.

Tapes, or cords, 10, 10, are attached to the outside of the belt by stitching or other wise, as shown in Fig. 1, adjacent to the front pockets, 5, 5. These tapes should be of substantial length so that they may be extended backwardly over the outer surface of the belt B, when the rods 9, are held in either of the loops 8, 8, at the rear of the position shown in Fig; 1, and thence turned over the rod and forwardly over the pockets 5, 5, where they may be tied together for holding the belt in place on the body. This feature permits the accommodation of the single belt to persons of different sizes. Thus when the tapes are extended around the rods 9, 9, in the first pairs of loops 8, 8, adjacent to the front floats, F, F, said floats would be brought closer together when the belt is tightened and fastened and one of a size next smaller than normal would be accommodated. Likewise, for still smaller persons, the corresponding pairs of loops 8, 8, to which the rods 9, 9, are then transferred, will correspondingly reduce the size of the belt and the surplus material of the belt will naturally fold against the body.

As shown in Fig. 1, the pockets, 5, 5, and 7, 7, are shown attached to the belt proper, while in Fig. 2, said pockets are integrally formed on the belt. The manner of making or attaching these pockets is not material, but the position and arrangement thereof is material to the successful use of the garment, and I conceive it to be possible to alter and modify the structure of this invention within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit thereof.

hat I claim is:

1. A swimming device comprising a belt having float elements held thereon, removable primary attaching means held on the ends of said belt, and a plurality of spaced attaching means on said belt, for adjusting the size thereof to persons of different size.

2. A swimming device comprising a belt of a single piece of fabric or the like, vertical pockets on said belt at the ends and midway thereof, float-s in said pockets, a plurality of vertical rows of spaced loops at and on each side of the ends thereof, means attachable to said end loops for fastening the belt on a person of large size, and independent means attachable selectively to said other loops for adjusting the size of said belt to and fastening the same on persons of smaller size.

3. A swimming device comprising a main member, means for holding said member on the body of the wearer, pockets attached to the meeting ends of said member and on opposite sides of the center thereof, hermetically sealed float elements removably held in said pockets, loops on the ends of said member, rods carried in said loops and means adjustable to said rods for holding said member in position.

4. A swimming device comprising a belt like float element having spaced loops at the ends thereof and a plurality of similar loops extending rearwardly from the ends and in vertical alinement, rods adapted to be selectively positioned in said loops, and means extending around said rods and attached together at the ends for holding said device in osition for use. i igned at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles, and State of California, this 17th day of April, 1919.

SAM B. SMITH.

In presence of- LUTHER L. MACK, H. M. BRUNDAGE. 

